Professors Attention Universities Internet Students Eslpod Laptops Paying

In any university class, there are many things that can "distract" (take one's attention away from what one is supposed to be paying attention to) students. Whether they should be paying attention to "lectures" (speeches or explanations by a professor) or participating in "discussions" (serious conversations about a particular topic), students' "minds can easily wander" (easily think of other things). These days, there's something else distracting students: their laptops.

Most American universities now have wireless Internet access across the entire "campus" (land and buildings of the university). This means that students with laptop computers can bring them to class and "surf the web" (go to and look at different Internet pages) during class. As you can imagine, many professors don't like this very much.

Professors at some universities are "retaliating" (fighting back). Some are "banning" (not allowing; making it against to rules to have) laptops in their classrooms. Other universities allow professors to "flip a switch" (cut the electrical connection) to turn off the wireless Internet service in their classrooms.

Professors say that it makes a huge difference. Students pay attention more and there is a better connection and better communication between professors and students. On the other hand, some students say that if professors were more interesting, they wouldn't get bored and surf the web during class "in the first place" (to begin with).